blackcompanyfandomcom-20200214-history
Black Company series
, the English-language e-book compendium of the first 10 novels of the series]] __TOC__ The '''Black Company series' is a dark / military fantasy series written by Glen Cook. The series chronicles several decades of the long history of a brotherhood of mercenaries called the Black Company, the last of the legendary Free Companies of Khatovar. It consists of 11 novels, 2 stand-alone short stories, and 4 pre-publication short stories that later appeared as novel chapters. The first 10 novels are organized by three story arcs: the 3 Books of the North; the 3 Books of the South; and the 4 Books of Glittering Stone. While the most recent novel, Port of Shadows, does take place chronologically during the Books of the North, it is omitted from that arc both because it was published about 33 years later and because it is a "lost history"-style narrative. Novels from this series have been translated from the original English into at least 14 languages: see the Black Company series/Cover gallery for a showcase of the Black Company's international publication history. Glen Cook explicitly states that the protagonist of the series is the Black Company brotherhood itself: Six of the eleven novels and all the short stories are narrated by a prominent central character, a physician and historian called Croaker. The other narrators are: an outsider named Case in The Silver Spike; Croaker's wife Lady in Dreams of Steel; Croaker's male protégé Murgen in Bleak Seasons and She Is the Darkness; and, a brilliant female newcomer nicknamed Sleepy in Water Sleeps. Novels The original ten novels are grouped into three story arcs published between 1984 and 2000. The Silver Spike was initially categorized as a spin-off novel because it was not narrated by a Company Annalist and was therefore technically not a "chronicle of the Black Company". But, it still takes place in the same universe, and, all omnibuses classify it among the Books of the South. In September 2018, eighteen years after the most recent novel, Glen Cook published Port of Shadows. A further novel, A Pitiless Rain has been mentioned by Cook, but as yet has no confirmed release date. All the Black Company novels are arranged here in order of original publication: To be announced A twelfth novel, A Pitiless Rain, is forthcoming but a publication date has not been announced. Short stories itself is the protagonist of the series, Croaker is its most prominent individual character. Fan art by Mikey Patch (Irontree).]] The first short story "Raker" was part of a pre-publication excerpt in 1982; an adapted version of it would become the third chapter of the first novel, The Black Company. Five more short stories were published in different anthologies between 2010 and 2015. Three of those would appear as chapters in Port of Shadows, released in September 2018. The two remaining short stories are "standalone" narratives. All the Black Company short stories are arranged here in order of publication: # "Raker" (Aug 1982) #* was later published as chapter 3 of The Black Company # "Tides Elba: A Tale of the Black Company" (Jun 2010) #* was later published as chapter 3 of Port of Shadows # "Smelling Danger" (Mar 2011) #* was later published as chapter 6 of Port of Shadows # "Shaggy Dog Bridge" (May 2013) #* takes place between Shadows Linger and The White Rose alongside "Bone Eaters" # "Bone Candy" (Nov 2014) #* was later published as chapter 9 of Port of Shadows # "Bone Eaters" (Mar 2015) #* takes place between Shadows Linger and The White Rose alongside "Shaggy Dog Bridge" In-universe chronological order All the novels and short stories are arranged below in in-universe chronological order (disregarding their publication dates): Translations See the Black Company series/Cover gallery for a showcase of the Black Company series' international publication history. Here is a brief breakdown of translations: # The first 10 books + Port of Shadows, and all short stories: #*'English' # The first 10 books + Port of Shadows: #* Polish # The first 10 books: #* Russian, French, Spanish, Bulgarian # The first 8 books (up to She Is the Darkness): #* Lithuanian, Persian # The first 4 books (up to Shadow Games): #* Czech # The first 3 books (the Books of the North): #* German, Hungarian, Serbian, Brazilian Portuguese, Finnish # The first 2 books: #* Romanian # The first book only: #* European Portuguese Omnibuses While the novels were first published individually, many new English, French, Polish, and Russian readers are exposed to the series in omnibus print/e-book formats. These omnibuses are typically divided by the series' three story arcs: the 3 Books of the North; the 3 Books of the South; and, the 4 Books of Glittering Stone (which are presented in 2 pairs). A selection of those omnibuses which are still in print are shown below. English Tor Fantasy Publishing paperback/e-book omnibuses: # Chronicles of the Black Company (The Black Company, Shadows Linger, The White Rose) 2007 # The Books of the South (Shadow Games, Dreams of Steel, The Silver Spike) 2008 # The Return of the Black Company (Bleak Seasons, She Is the Darkness) 2009 # The Many Deaths of the Black Company (Water Sleeps, Soldiers Live) 2010 * All 4 Tor omnibuses are available in a single digital compendium that was published in 2018. File:Chronicles-of-the-black-company.jpg File:SwanlandBooksSouth.jpg File:The_return_of_the_black_company.jpg File:The_Many_Deaths_of_the_Black_Company.jpg File:Annals_2018_ebundle.jpg French J'ai lu's paperback/e-book omnibuses: File:Books_of_the_North_(J%27ai_Lu_2015)_Cover.jpg|Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire: L'Intégrale 1 L'Intégrale 1 File:Books_of_the_South_(J%27ai_Lu_2015)_Cover.jpg|Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire: L'Intégrale 2 L'Intégrale 2 File:Books_of_Glittering_Stone_Part_1_(J%27ai_lu_2016)_Cover.jpg|Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire: L'Intégrale 3 L'Intégrale 3 File:Books_of_Glittering_Stone_Part_2_(J%27ai_lu_2016)_Cover.jpg|Les Annales de la Compagnie Noire: L'Intégrale 4 L'Intégrale 4 Category:Works by Glen Cook